News & Info

It's Still About Retention

Can you imagine what it would be like if membership retention was NOT an issue? If every new member knew, the first day they signed up, that the association was a valuable tool for doing business and keeping housing affordable in South Western Washington? If, just this membership year, we had no members drop out, we could easily end the year well over 1,000 members!

The truth is Olympia Master Builders (OMB) IS a valuable tool for doing business in South Western Washington. The retention program the Spike Club put into place has a strong emphasis on networking and doing business with members. Doug Karman, OMB Membership Marketing Director, is the first step in this program. He visits each new member, provides a new member orientation and invites them to the new member networking session. Staff also works to get new members linked into OMB through involvement in one of the committees or councils, Associates' Networking Breakfast, sponsoring an event, donating to the Auction, or buying a booth or table top at one of the Home and Garden shows or the General Membership meeting.

The second step of our retention program involves each new member being assigned a Spike or Spike Candidate to give them a call after they have been a member for 90 days, to get to know something about them and their business, and tell them about upcoming OMB events and activities.

The results of our efforts won't really be clear until next year, when today's new members are tomorrow's renewing companies. If you see a new face at an event, please say hello and introduce yourself. Tell them you're glad they've decided to join and, just as important, became involved. In the end, doing business with members benefits everyone - and the more members to do business with, the better.